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Shinjuku

Secondary City Center of Tokyo

Shinjuku is known as the sub-center of Tokyo and is one of the busiest business districts in the city. Shinjuku is home to many government and corporate buildings, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and many skyscrapers over 200 meters tall, and the Kabukicho district east of Shinjuku Station attracts a large number of tourists.

In the middle of the last century, the Tokyo government decided to create a few sub-centers around the core of Tokyo, and Shinjuku was one of them.

The Shinjuku 新宿 area was divided into two distinctive areas, with Shinjuku Station as the boundary. The east side of Shinjuku Station was developed earlier, with Kabukicho Ichiban-gai 歌舞伎町一番街 as the origin of Shinjuku’s prosperity.

Kabukicho Ichiban-gai is an entertainment and in Shinjuku, with many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the “Sleepless Town”. After decades of renovation, the Kabukicho Ichiban-gai has gradually been transformed from a red-light district full of Yakuza gangsters to a hot tourist attraction.

Giant Godzilla Head on the Roof in Kabukicho

The west side of Shinjuku Station is home to many government offices and corporate buildings, with a large number of Skyscrapers Over 200 Meters Tall such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Shinjuku Sumitomo Building, Shinjuku Mitsui Building, and Shinjuku Central Building.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building 東京都庁舎, completed in 1991, is the office building of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and was designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The building is divided into three parts: the Tokyo Metropolitan Main building No.1, the Tokyo Metropolitan Main building No.2, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, of which Tokyo Metropolitan Main building No.1 第一本庁舎 is 243 meters tall and consists of a 34-story main building and 48-story north and south towers. The building has both traditional and modern architectural styles, and the look of a European-style Gothic cathedral. The twin towers each contain an 202-meter-high Observation Deck that overlooks the Tokyo cityscape panoramically.

Manywhere Trivia:
The highest mountain in downtown Tokyo is in Toyama Park in Shinjuku, called Mount Hakone-san (not the Hakone with hot springs), which is 44.6 meters above sea level, similar to Jingshan Park in Beijing.

In the middle of these skyscrapers is a rare green park, which is Shinjuku Central Park. The park is lined with greenery, and many white-collar workers in the neighborhood choose to stop here for lunch and rest, or Catching Pokemon.